Nomasonto Sokhela

Nomasonto Gladys Motsitsi Sokhela is a mother of 2 beautiful girls, she believes in empowering her kids and allowing them to grow as individuals with an understanding of their purpose in life. As she believes people who live for a purpose are driven, focused and consistent in their lives and with tasks given.

I Matter Foundation (IMF) was just an idea in 2014 that came into existence in September 2016; the main goal of the foundation is to raise awareness about learning disabilities, barriers, and difficulties, and support those who have learning disabilities to cope better and have equal education and opportunities as other learners.

Nomasonto’s eldest daughter Ntandwenhle is one of the inspirations for her starting an organization I Matter Foundation. Ntandwenhle has a condition called Scoliosis which affects her movement and made her struggle academically, this was a very stressful time for both. Understanding the condition, the impacts and possible strategies of dealing with the condition. The journey involved therapy sessions with physiotherapists and occupational therapist, which costs a lot of money but with the help of Ntandwenhle’s father making sure she has access to medical aid it really helped her to get the support she needed this in turn helped her to be a confident learner who loves school, she struggles but has the courage to face each day and is an aspiring future author. This made Nomasonto concerned about those learners who could overcome learning disorders if they had the proper support but because of their family backgrounds they wont access the support that is much needed to help them overcome.

She also worked in the rural schools where classes are multi graded and learners didn’t get proper support, this really touched her heart and she knew she had a role to play to assist learners who have learning disorders/disabilities, their parents and also other educators who are not exposed to information about learning disorders they are dealing with in their classrooms on a daily basis.

When children have learning problems, it affects their whole being, they lack confidence, they become angry, they become withdrawn and it also has a negative impact on how they view relationships in life. They get bullied by educators, parents, peers and even the community, they are always viewed as failures who cannot think for themselves and this leads to school drop outs, hence we started I Matter Foundation we wanted to help learners who are misunderstood and had given up on education.

Challenges faced

Starting something from passion and a calling is easy, as you are driven by your calling, making impact and changing lives. But it was not as easy as she thought, she had to recruit people with the same drive and passion for helping children and communities, knowing at the end of the month they won’t have a salary as the organizations didn’t have funds.

Resistance was also the major problem as learning disorders/disabilities are still a taboo in our communities. The organization experienced resistance from the necessary stakeholders, parents and sometimes learners. But this didn’t stop the team from working hard in serving the communities with respect and excellence.

Funding is still a major obstacle in the work the organization does, as it is an outreach organization it became very costly to do the work and go to different locations to attend to our beneficiaries. Running the daily operations for the organization without funds has been very challenging and it costs the organization very good volunteers who were passionate and contributed greatly to the organization.

Understanding our Vision and sticking to what we have initially planned to do with the organization. It has been challenging as many stakeholders expected IMF to be part of all the programs and we understood that it was not easy for IMF to do so, as not all learners in schools have learning disorders and addressing the issues in an environment where many stakeholders and all the learners are present may result also in misunderstanding, stigmatization and bullying.

Highlights

IThere are so many highlights since the birth of the organization, waking Up every morning to work with learners who had given up on learning and were about to drop out of school and because of the program they change their minds, attitudes and start dreaming it really IS A BLESSING.

Working with the Amajuba district com serves (Therapists) was an amazing experience for IMF as it exposed us to different ways of teaching and supporting learners who have learning disorders/disabilities. Seeing the impact, the program made in the community was eye opening, and it made IMF realize that there is a way child can be supported and overcome learning disorders.

Addressing learning barriers by collecting clothes and toiletries and donating to learners from poor families, seeing them smile, believe and feel like they belong is one of our prides. Referring learners to different stakeholders for support and ensuring they get the continuous support they need.

Our partners, sponsors and donors are the reason we still existing, their belief in us and continuous support has kept our offices open and serving people who need our help. Having them fund our programs, pray for us and attend our events is always a highlight for us and praise God for their love and continuous support.

Dreams

“IMF is an assignment from God, I look up to him for directions and guidance, the dream is to serve him before we can look for our needs. I wish for the organization to help and transform the lives of children who do not have a fair in accessing quality education due to their conditions. Get funding so we can reach out to more beneficiaries and have offices through all the 9 provinces of South Africa and the rest of Africa.

Building lasting relationships with all our stakeholders and helping children grow up in loving environments, helping them dream big and working hard to achieve their goals.